Pre-nasalization of Voiced Plosives in Kochi Dialect(<Feature Articles>Phonetics and Phonology of Shikoku Dialects)

Abstract

[ŋ] before vowels exist in various dialects of Japan. It shows wide range of distribution all over Japan, including Ryukyuan islands. In Tohoku area, voiced plosives and affricates before vowels are pre-nazalized. This paper treats velar nasal consonant as a variation of pre-nasalized voiced velar plosive, same as those pre-nasalized voiced bilabial and dental consonants. Some of the results of researches show the narrower distribution of pre-nasalization, which means that the degree of nasalization is decreasing according to the age of speakers of one dialects. The result of research in Kochi dialect on pre-nasalization shows the degree how the pre-nasalization decrease as the age of informants become younger.